Cocoa polyphenols, such as flavanols and their related oligomers, have been shown to have beneficial effects on hypertension, atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disease. These effects are shown, for example, in the International Appl. No. PCT/US97/05693, published as WO97/36497, and the examples reported in the application. It has been shown therein that cocoa polyphenols can be used to treat or prevent conditions which are known to be affected by the administration of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, for example, aspirin. However, the use of cocoa polyphenols rather than aspirin for therapy and prophylaxis is advantageous because cocoa polyphenols do not have the side effects of aspirin, such as stomach bleeding.
A new use of cocoa polyphenols, such as flavanols and their related oligomers, has now been surprisingly discovered. The compositions and products disclosed herein may be used for the treatment, prophylaxis, reduction of risk of, and reduction of occurrences of heart arrhythmia. Moreover, these compositions and products may be used for treating, preventing, reducing the risk of, or slowing the progression of any condition associated with abnormalities in the gap junctional communication between cells such as cancer, heart arrhythmia, and neuro-degenerative and other diseases involving defective gap-junctional communication between cells.